Walking Together: First Nations, Métis and

Inuit Perspectives in Curriculum

Oral Tradition

CREATION STORIES AS SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION

Excerpt from Aboriginal Perspectives

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CREATION STORIES AS SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION More than one thousand nations lived in North America when the first Europeans arrived. Each

had its own culture with particular rituals, ceremonies, and beliefs that tied them to the land the

people called home. Creation stories explain how the world and all of its parts began. This

explanation for the origin of the world can help people understand and accept things that cannot

be seen or touched, including their own identity, purpose, and place in the world. An individual’s

understanding of their place and purpose in the world is their spirituality. The traditional

spirituality of First Nations and Inuit peoples is a way of life in fused with the belief that

existence includes both a physical world and a spiritual world. The physical world can be seen

and touched. It is the humans, plants, water, and earth itself.

The spiritual world is normally unseen, but is nevertheless present everywhere and in

everything. All humans, animals, plants, water, and earth have spiritual aspects along with

physical presence.

The two worlds are inseparable. Every part of the physical world is connected to the

spiritual realm. In turn, the spiritual realm is affected by events, decisions, and actions in the

physical world. This sense of connection between the physical and spiritual has a central role in

the oral tradition and especially in creation stories.

Because of their sacred nature, procuring such stories normally requires following a

certain protocol before storytellers will agree to share their knowledge.

Creation is not a matter of the past –– it is an ongoing process that is constantly in a state

of renewal through the continuation of life.

Creation stories describe the origin of and the reason for the rituals, ceremonies, and

spiritual beliefs that celebrate the renewal of creation. In Chapter Three, you will learn about

some of these ceremonies and celebrations.

PURPOSE AND ORDER Because the world is a complicated place, creation stories are sometimes long and have many

parts –– how the world was formed; when people arrived; the origin of important cultural objects

such as the ceremonial pipe; how there came to be light, fire, the moon, and wind; why the

animals and plants look and act as they do. For example, various stories explain how the

chipmunk got its black stripes, why owls have big eyes, and why the bobcat has a flat nose and

long tail.

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This excerpt on creation stories ©Nelson Education Ltd. Aboriginal Perspectives, Toronto, ON, 2004, pp. 44–48,

56–59

CREATION STORIES AS SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION cont.

Excerpt from Aboriginal Perspectives

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Walking Together

Common in these stories is the idea that nothing is by chance. The Creator has a purpose

for each part of the natural world. Creation stories reveal that the Creator’s touch is everywhere.

Creation stories set forth the relationship between all things of the world –– animals,

birds, plants, insects, rocks, trees, rivers, mountains, oceans, and humans –– and the role each of

them has in maintaining balance and the cycle of creation. Nothing is too small or insignificant

to play a part. A message common in many creation stories is that everything and everyone has a

gift to give that should be accepted with gratitude and respect.

Creation stories reveal the important position animals hold in First Nations and Inuit

cultures. In many First Nations origin stories, the world was shaped and formed by the thoughts

and wishes of an animal. The Secwepemc (Shuswap), for example, tell how Coyote saves the

world from darkness and long winters by creating day and night and the four seasons.

Humans are not separate from the land, but part of it. In many creation stories, humans

are the last to be created. “When the world was new,” as the Sahtu Dene say in many stories,

animals were different from the way they are now. They were animal-people with special

powers, and all spoke the same language. In traditional Sahtu Dene stories, humans are the only

creatures that no other animal or plant depends on for survival. Because of this, people are meant

to be respectful and humble in their relationship to nature and the land. The attributes of the land

are gifts meant to be used and enjoyed with respect.

FLOODS, EARTH, AND THE SKY WORLD Creation stories are among the world’s oldest stories –– they exist in all cultures. There are often

similarities in the stories of different cultures. For example, many tell of a great flood –– of a

long––ago time when the entire world was covered by water.

In one version of the Cree creation story, the Creator made all the animals and the first

people; then he told Wîsahkecâhk to teach them how to live. But Wîsahkecâhk did not obey, and

the people quarreled. The Creator was displeased and sent a great flood. Everything was

drowned except Wîsahkecâhk, Otter, Beaver, and Muskrat. They needed somewhere to live, so

Wîsahkecâhk asked the others to dive down and bring up a bit of earth so he could make an

island. Each one tried, but only Muskrat succeeded. Using the powers given to him by the

Creator, Wîsahkecâhk expanded the bit of earth into an island by blowing on it.

The story of the earth diver is told not only by many First Nations, but also by indigenous

peoples in Australia, Africa, and parts of Asia.

Other creation stories are quite different. First peoples living in the southern United

States, such as the Apache, Navajo, and Hopi, were said to have climbed out of Earth, passing

through different worlds before reaching the surface where they live today.

Some stories involve a Sky World of spirits. In a creation story told by the Dene people

near Great Slave Lake, the world becomes dark and snow falls and blankets Earth. The animals

send a delegation up through a trap door to the Sky World to find out why. There the animals

work together to retrieve the sun, moon, and stars from Black Bear who was not yet an animal of

this world. The animals throw the sun through the trap door and it melts the snow, causing a

great flood. After the waters recede, as the story goes, people come and there is never peace on

Earth again.

CREATION STORIES AS SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION cont.

Excerpt from Aboriginal Perspectives

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Walking Together

LAND AND IDENTITY Creation stories of different First Nations reflect their specific environment and give the people a

sense of belonging with their surroundings. In the Blackfoot creation story, Naapi marks off a

piece of land with a stick and provides the people with many animals and plants. He then tells

them to defend their land and its resources from others.

Many stories describe the creation of specific landforms or features of the physical

environment. Dene people say the waters of the Great Slave Lake were left behind after the great

snowfall melted. In the Haida creation story, the beaches and rocks of Haida Gwaii (the Queen

Charlotte Islands) are formed after the waters that covered Earth receded. In some stories from

the Pacific Northwest, Raven makes the first people from seashells, and in others he leads them

from a clamshell. Some Inuit and First Nations tell stories about the origin of the aurora borealis,

the northern lights. A stone along the southern shores of Lake Superior is sacred to the

Chippewa. This is where Nanabozho stopped to rest and smoke his pipe while he created the

world. Everywhere in the Rocky Mountains are sacred places where Naapi walked or slept or

hunted can be be found.

The stories show that these places, the traditional lands, were home to each group from

the beginning, provided to them by the Creator. These lands are where each nation is intended to

live. The intimate sense of connection traditional First Nations people felt with their

surroundings was a part of their identity as humans.

People understood through stories that their actions in their surroundings had to be

respectful. It was here that their ancestors were taught how to hunt, which plants to use for food

or medicine, and the importance of balance and harmony with nature. Here, the lessons were

learned on how to live as a person, a family, a community, and a nation.

OTHER THEORIES ABOUT ORIGIN Many First Nations and Inuit peoples believe that their ancestors originated in North America

and that the Creator made the land and its inhabitants, including humans, to exist in a delicate

state of balance. These beliefs are based on sacred oral teachings that have been passed down for

generations.

Scientists propose various theories about the origins of North America’s first peoples.

Theories are explanations that are not proven, but are scientifically reasonable. Scientific theories

are based on the study of artifacts found at archaeological sites across North America. Most

theories maintain that the first peoples to live in North America originated elsewhere. These

theories propose that the earliest humans on the planet evolved in Africa and then gradually

spread to other parts of the world.

Scientists disagree, however, on the exact date and circumstances of humanity’s

appearance in North and South America. The most widely accepted explanation is known as the

Beringia theory, which suggests that First Nations migrated to North America from Asia between

30 000 and 11 000 years ago .

Today Alaska and Siberia are separated by the Bering Strait, a narrow strip of water

approximately 88 kilometres wide. During the Ice Age, however, ocean levels were much lower.

Vast quantities of moisture were locked in the ice sheets covering North America. Lower ocean

levels left a continuous land mass between Asia and North America exposed for several thousand

years. Scientists have named this area Beringia. At some point in history, Beringia may have

CREATION STORIES AS SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION cont.

Excerpt from Aboriginal Perspectives

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Walking Together

stretched across 1600 kilometers.

Scientists theorize that ancient hunters from Asia travelled across Beringia in pursuit of

large game, such as mammoths, giant bison, antelopes, and mastodons. From there, scientists

believe the hunters migrated south, either along the Pacific coastline or as shown on the map on

this page, through narrow, ice-free corridor stretching down through what is now Alberta.

The Beringia theory dominated North American archaeology for six decades. Today,

other theories compete for acceptance. Some scientists, for example, now believe that the first

Americans arrived by boat. Following Asia’s coastline, they sailed past Beringia and migrated

down the west coast as far as South America. Others believe ancient Europeans may have

travelled across the North Atlantic. Still others argue that Polynesian islanders and Australian

indigenous peoples arrived by raft or boat from across the Pacific Ocean.

No theory yet explains all evidence. Because these theories are founded on discoveries of

physical artifacts, new discoveries can support or change scientific theories rapidly. Debate in

the scientific community about this topic continues.